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Help Me Choose My First Uk Vintage Pen!


Bornin1992

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Hi, all,

 

I have decided to expand my vintage pen collection to the UK. In my collection, I have a Waterman 52, Sheaffer Balance Oversize, and a Parker Vacumatic.

 

For the moment, I am restricting my UK search to the more "common" manufacturers: Conway Stewart, Mabie Todd Swan, and De La Rue Onoto.

 

I am looking for your recommendations on specific models I should consider! I love softer nibs and the flex on my Waterman, but am pretty open.

 

Thanks, again, for your help!

Jinhao X750, Wing Sung 601 (F), Pilot Metropolitan (M), TWSBI ECO (M), Sheaffer 300 (M), Faber-Castell Carbon Basic (M), (2) Pelikan M200 (F), Pilot Custom 74 (F), Platinum 3776 ( B ), Lamy 2000,(2) FPR Himalaya #5.5 (Fine, medium, broad, flex nibs), Parker 51 (M), Esterbrook J (2556)

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I like the Conway Stewarts, which have different price points. They are probably the easiest to get and pretty common.

 

Erick

Using right now:

Visconti Voyager 30 "M" nib running Birmingham Streetcar

Jinhao 9019 "EF" nib running Birmingham Railroad Spike

Stipula Adagio "F" nib running Birmingham Violet Sea Snail

Sailor Profit "B" nib running Van Dieman's Night - Shooting Star

 

 

 

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I like the Conway Stewarts, which have different price points. They are probably the easiest to get and pretty common.

 

Erick

Do you have any specific model you'd recommend?

Jinhao X750, Wing Sung 601 (F), Pilot Metropolitan (M), TWSBI ECO (M), Sheaffer 300 (M), Faber-Castell Carbon Basic (M), (2) Pelikan M200 (F), Pilot Custom 74 (F), Platinum 3776 ( B ), Lamy 2000,(2) FPR Himalaya #5.5 (Fine, medium, broad, flex nibs), Parker 51 (M), Esterbrook J (2556)

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Any non-hooded Onoto with a numbered Onoto nib. For best behaviour look post-WW2 at the 5601 or 62xx models. Several of my pre-WW2 are well behaved yet it is a little more chancy whether that will be so, unless you pick up a Magna. Right now one of my pens in rotation is an Onoto 6000 Streamline from the early 1920s. Dries out with valve closed overnight but otherwise pretty flawless and a great No 3 nib. It depends a little on your adventurousness.

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Any non-hooded Onoto with a numbered Onoto nib. For best behaviour look post-WW2 at the 5601 or 62xx models. Several of my pre-WW2 are well behaved yet it is a little more chancy whether that will be so, unless you pick up a Magna. Right now one of my pens in rotation is an Onoto 6000 Streamline from the early 1920s. Dries out with valve closed overnight but otherwise pretty flawless and a great No 3 nib. It depends a little on your adventurousness.

Thanks your response! Any recommendations on places that deal in Onoto?

Jinhao X750, Wing Sung 601 (F), Pilot Metropolitan (M), TWSBI ECO (M), Sheaffer 300 (M), Faber-Castell Carbon Basic (M), (2) Pelikan M200 (F), Pilot Custom 74 (F), Platinum 3776 ( B ), Lamy 2000,(2) FPR Himalaya #5.5 (Fine, medium, broad, flex nibs), Parker 51 (M), Esterbrook J (2556)

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Penamie and Heritagecollectables are two over the ocean to your east, Pensmith a long way south-west. Prices are not always entirely reasonable. There are also fairly regular and somewhat reliable sellers on ebay UK. I notice that some of those sites have taken to calling Onotos "piston fill" which is of course nonsense (in the modern or Pelikan sense of piston). Onotos which are not lever fill (and excluding the final K models) use a pushrod vacuum system they first invented in 1905 and called "plunge fill"; it was their "claim to fame" marketing point.

 

I am not aware of any particular sellers of Onoto The Pen in North America.

 

edit:clarifying comment

Edited by praxim

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Writetime (Mr. Barry Rose) has a regularly updated selection of vintage pens - you'll find plenty of English brands; Conway Stewart, Burnham and loads more.

 

The C.S #75 is a great value pen, nickel trim, on the larger side and in a nice array of colours of crushed-velvet style xylonites (plastics).

 

Any Burnham, particularly the sets, will be a bargain in terms of colourful materials and gold nibs.

 

Hope this helps!

 

W.S.P

W.S.P

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Writetime (Mr. Barry Rose) has a regularly updated selection of vintage pens - you'll find plenty of English brands; Conway Stewart, Burnham and loads more.

 

The C.S #75 is a great value pen, nickel trim, on the larger side and in a nice array of colours of crushed-velvet style xylonites (plastics).

 

Any Burnham, particularly the sets, will be a bargain in terms of colourful materials and gold nibs.

 

Hope this helps!

 

W.S.P

Thanks! I've been looking at 58s and am quite confused. Some appear to have Duro nibs, whereas others do not have it printed on the nib.

Is one more desirable?

Jinhao X750, Wing Sung 601 (F), Pilot Metropolitan (M), TWSBI ECO (M), Sheaffer 300 (M), Faber-Castell Carbon Basic (M), (2) Pelikan M200 (F), Pilot Custom 74 (F), Platinum 3776 ( B ), Lamy 2000,(2) FPR Himalaya #5.5 (Fine, medium, broad, flex nibs), Parker 51 (M), Esterbrook J (2556)

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Writetime (Mr. Barry Rose) has a regularly updated selection of vintage pens - you'll find plenty of English brands; Conway Stewart, Burnham and loads more.

 

The C.S #75 is a great value pen, nickel trim, on the larger side and in a nice array of colours of crushed-velvet style xylonites (plastics).

 

Any Burnham, particularly the sets, will be a bargain in terms of colourful materials and gold nibs.

 

Hope this helps!

 

W.S.P

Most post war Burnhams have gold plated nibs

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Thanks! I've been looking at 58s and am quite confused. Some appear to have Duro nibs, whereas others do not have it printed on the nib.

Is one more desirable?

Duro nibs are usually larger for 'higher quality' pens but they are usually as hard as nails to write with. Comparable to Swan 'Eternal' nibs.

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Duro nibs are usually larger for 'higher quality' pens but they are usually as hard as nails to write with. Comparable to Swan 'Eternal' nibs.

Thanks! Are the non-Duro nibs softer?

Jinhao X750, Wing Sung 601 (F), Pilot Metropolitan (M), TWSBI ECO (M), Sheaffer 300 (M), Faber-Castell Carbon Basic (M), (2) Pelikan M200 (F), Pilot Custom 74 (F), Platinum 3776 ( B ), Lamy 2000,(2) FPR Himalaya #5.5 (Fine, medium, broad, flex nibs), Parker 51 (M), Esterbrook J (2556)

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I must've got lucky with my post war Burnhams. That's something to look out for, certainly. Thanks peterg.

 

Non-duro nibs tend to be more forgiving. Some are just springy whilst others can be considered semi-flexible. Duros are C.S manifold nibs basically, for use on carbon copy paper and the like. They're also thicker and heavier, a status symbol if you will and more than suitable for a heavier hand.

 

#58s can often be found with the earlier style non-duro nibs, which can offer a less rigid writing experience. These tend to have heart-shaped breather holes. Occasionally you'll find a springy one - best of luck, they're worth waiting for!

 

W.S.P

W.S.P

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I must've got lucky with my post war Burnhams. That's something to look out for, certainly. Thanks peterg.

 

Non-duro nibs tend to be more forgiving. Some are just springy whilst others can be considered semi-flexible. Duros are C.S manifold nibs basically, for use on carbon copy paper and the like. They're also thicker and heavier, a status symbol if you will and more than suitable for a heavier hand.

 

#58s can often be found with the earlier style non-duro nibs, which can offer a less rigid writing experience. These tend to have heart-shaped breather holes. Occasionally you'll find a springy one - best of luck, they're worth waiting for!

 

W.S.P

Thanks for the explanation. I haven't come across many 58s with the non-duro nibs. Would it be better to go with a 28 and a non-duro nib?

Jinhao X750, Wing Sung 601 (F), Pilot Metropolitan (M), TWSBI ECO (M), Sheaffer 300 (M), Faber-Castell Carbon Basic (M), (2) Pelikan M200 (F), Pilot Custom 74 (F), Platinum 3776 ( B ), Lamy 2000,(2) FPR Himalaya #5.5 (Fine, medium, broad, flex nibs), Parker 51 (M), Esterbrook J (2556)

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If you like that streamlined post-war design then you certainly have lots to choose from. A #28 or a #27 (single wide band) will be a decent size with a number 5 nib (non-duro), though not all will be semi-flex.

W.S.P

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There is a massive range of UK pens and it would be really helpful if you could narrow things down a little, perhaps by saying what you like about vintage pens. Is it the writing experience, the sometimes "interesting" filling systems, the history, etc? Maybe some indication of how you intend to use the pen would be helpful: everyday, once in a while, just in a display, etc.?

 

Perhaps one important caveat is that a vintage pen of any type is absolutely only as good as the less person to mess with it!

 

CS are a great place to start, unless you are interested in strange ways of filling pens. If so, I'd say Onoto have the edge with their plunger-fills. Swan and related brands can often be found cheaply, and can be remarkably good pens. Among my favourites are the leverless, which are basically sac-fillers with a fancy mechanism replacing the levery thing.

 

All the other suggestions are really strong. Burnham can be over-rated or massively over-priced, in my observation, but are a good solid choice.

 

Anyway, if you can narrow down your motivation and intended use, I'm sure we can be helpful (which is FPN-speak for "we'll give you hundreds of great ideas, all completely different!" :-)

 

Cheers,

 

Ralf

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There is a massive range of UK pens and it would be really helpful if you could narrow things down a little, perhaps by saying what you like about vintage pens. Is it the writing experience, the sometimes "interesting" filling systems, the history, etc? Maybe some indication of how you intend to use the pen would be helpful: everyday, once in a while, just in a display, etc.?

 

Perhaps one important caveat is that a vintage pen of any type is absolutely only as good as the less person to mess with it!

 

CS are a great place to start, unless you are interested in strange ways of filling pens. If so, I'd say Onoto have the edge with their plunger-fills. Swan and related brands can often be found cheaply, and can be remarkably good pens. Among my favourites are the leverless, which are basically sac-fillers with a fancy mechanism replacing the levery thing.

 

All the other suggestions are really strong. Burnham can be over-rated or massively over-priced, in my observation, but are a good solid choice.

 

Anyway, if you can narrow down your motivation and intended use, I'm sure we can be helpful (which is FPN-speak for "we'll give you hundreds of great ideas, all completely different!" :-)

 

Cheers,

 

Ralf

Ralf,

Thanks for your reply.

I love the writing experience of vintage pens. In my view, after using vintage pens, modern pens seem uninteresting. I am indifferent to filling systems. I also use my fountain pens daily for taking notes in class or during research.

Does that help?

Jinhao X750, Wing Sung 601 (F), Pilot Metropolitan (M), TWSBI ECO (M), Sheaffer 300 (M), Faber-Castell Carbon Basic (M), (2) Pelikan M200 (F), Pilot Custom 74 (F), Platinum 3776 ( B ), Lamy 2000,(2) FPR Himalaya #5.5 (Fine, medium, broad, flex nibs), Parker 51 (M), Esterbrook J (2556)

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Just my tuppence worth -

 

I seem to have an atypically large number of boring black Onotos. Boring, black, and really really good writers :-)

 

If you're after a bright and beautiful pen, though, I think Burnhams take some beating. They used some really stunning celluloids, and the pens are well made.

Too many pens, too little time!

http://fountainpenlove.blogspot.fr/

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I recommend a Swan - any Swan made before 1954 or so - some of the later ones aren't so good, as is true of many other manufacturers. Self-filler, Leverless or Visofil. Very high quality with excellent nibs, whether you like firm or flexible.

Regards,

Eachan

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All,

 

Thank you for your responses! I ordered from http://writetime.co.uk a Conway Stewart 28 in green hatched pattern.

 

Will post more when it arrives!

Jinhao X750, Wing Sung 601 (F), Pilot Metropolitan (M), TWSBI ECO (M), Sheaffer 300 (M), Faber-Castell Carbon Basic (M), (2) Pelikan M200 (F), Pilot Custom 74 (F), Platinum 3776 ( B ), Lamy 2000,(2) FPR Himalaya #5.5 (Fine, medium, broad, flex nibs), Parker 51 (M), Esterbrook J (2556)

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